I actually CHOSE this location for my inside stateroom over a secret porthole room because we stayed in 7002 on our last cruise and it was so quiet.
The boat rocked quite a bit on our trip but as much as I tried to be able to tell where it rocked more, it seemed like it was rocking the same everywhere. I personally prefer it when it rocks so you can't go by me on that one and it rocked me to sleep every night.
As far as convenience goes, it was great for us... being so close to the forward elevators made getting to all of the adult places easy. The midship elevators are almost always packed. The gangway was always set up on the forward part of the ship for all of the ports that we were in so we just took the stairs down to get off the ship, and the elevators back up. It was great! Not sure how that may change depending on where you go and weather etc, but we saw it as a benefit.
Lisa